How Google’s Chrome browser does updates

Chrome has been the world's most popular browser for more than a year now, convincing first individuals and then enterprises that it was the best replacement for Microsoft's once-leading Internet Explorer.But Google's browser has not been without it...

Chrome has been the world's most popular browser for more than a year now, convincing first individuals and then enterprises that it was the best replacement for Microsoft's once-leading Internet Explorer.

But Google's browser has not been without its critics. Among the sticking points has been Chrome's automatic updating mechanism, which some decried for force-feeding unwanted changes, or for delivering those changes at speeds too quickly for customers to absorb.

We've dug into Chrome's updates, from their frequency and schedule to how to manage them as an individual or as an IT professional. Here's what we found.

Automatic updates, or manual trigger

Chrome updates itself in the background -- and has done so since it debuted nearly nine years ago -- so most users need do nothing but relaunch the browser once in a while.